We are just looking for enough ice retention to be serviceable at this price bracket. As with all soft coolers, you shouldn’t leave the RTIC Soft Pack Cooler out in the sun or resting on very hot surfaces like the back of a pickup truck or on top of a picnic table for a long time. Although the exterior of the cooler is made of a durable, thickly coated nylon—waterproof and tough—the sun and heat will degrade the material and slowly wear it out. It has taken us a few years to recommend a wheeled cooler simply because none have seemed built to last longer than a season or two—especially in the handle.
Open- and closed-cell foams act as insulators to reduce heat conduction, while fabrics and liners, such as coated polyurethane and reflective Mylar, create a radiant barrier that reduces and reflects heat radiation. If you’re wondering what kind of foam your cooler has, a good rule of thumb is to try to squeeze the foam with your fingers. If your fingers can compress the foam more than 75%, you’re probably dealing with open-cell foam. If the foam feels denser than that and doesn’t compress much at all, you probably have your hands on closed-cell foam. This review is led by Senior Review Editors Maggie Nichols and Genaveve Bradshaw. Maggie has been playing and guiding in the outdoors for over fifteen years, from backpacking the Tahoe Rim Trail to kayaking the Caribbean.
This metric is also the source of many extraordinary claims from manufacturers. From models with “5-Day” in the name to stickers boasting up to 16 days of ice retention, it seems that just about every product out there will knock your socks off. While all these things will help extend the life of your ice and, therefore, the freshness of your food, it’s unlikely that every consumer will follow these stipulations for each use. So we tested these coolers the way that we, and most consumers, would use them. We bought some ice, filled each model about ⅓ full, and put a mixture of cold and room temperature cans in them. Then we simulated a hot summer trip by sealing them in a heated room for over a week while tracking and recording each unit’s internal temperature.
But with care, you can extend the lifespan of any soft cooler—the number one rule seems to be not to leave it out in the sun. The RTIC 65 has rope handles with a plastic tube for gripping and two rubber latches for holding the lid closed, mimicking the design of most other, comparable coolers. No matter if you’re hanging out in the backyard with friends, chilling at the neighborhood pool, or relaxing on the beach, nothing beats an ice cold drink when it’s hot out. That’s where a high-quality cooler comes in, like this 50-quart cooler with wheels from Coleman that’s easy to bring along and is on sale right now for 50% off. While the model above is the 70-quart model, Coleman also offers one in 52, 120, and 150 quarts so you can store many things as you need to.
The Coleman Chest Cooler is Coleman’s standard offering for those looking for an “everyday” type of cooler. It is similar to their Marine line except this one is intended more for on-land excursions (and it will typically be a bit more affordable as well). It contains Thermozone coleman sundome insulation which promises extra-long ice life compared to other similarly-priced coolers in the industry. In contrast, open-cell foam is permeable to air and water like a sponge (which is why it frequently appears in foam pillows, as it’s squishier and it breathes).